On Saturday, Kalani Sitake and the BYU Cougars won a major recruiting battle over the likes of Oregon and UCLA with the commitment of McKay Madsen.
Madsen, a four-star linebacker from Clovis, California, announced his decision during the Navy All-American Bowl.
Coming out of Clovis North in the Class of 2025, Madsen is listed as a four-star prospect by the 247Sports index and the nation’s 197th-ranked player. He also checks in as the 19th-ranked player at his position and the 17th-ranked player in the state of California.
“Madsen is on of the freakier athletes in the ’25 class,” 247Sports’ Greg Biggins wrote. “He’s a two-sport standout and one of the top throwers in the country. He won state titles in the Shot Put- 63’6” and Discuss 206”8” and could double sport at the college level. On the grid-iron, he’s a two-way standout and is getting recruited as both a fullback and linebacker. As a junior, he rushed for over 1,000 yards and 18 touchdowns to go with 75 tackles and four interceptions. We saw him at the SoCal Under Armour Next Camp in March and he stood out among the linebackers and tested really well with one of the top 40 times and vertical jumps of the day. He’s a tough, physical kid, kind of a throwback player who may not be flashy but is affective on both sides of the ball and we could conceivably see him line up on both sides at the college level as well. Has easy Power 4 potential at both fullback and linebacker and would be fun to watch on special teams as a wedge breaker as well.”
With his commitment, Madsen became the 20th player to commit to BYU in the Class of 2025. The group checks in as the Big 12’s 13th-ranked group and the 57th-ranked unit in the country.
